EVERETT — All three open positions for the Northshore School District Board of Directors saw crowded races in the August primary.
Now, the races are down to two candidates each.
Northshore School District straddles the border between Snohomish and King counties. About one-third of the geographic area lies in Snohomish County. While each school board member represents a different area of the district, all voters residing within the Northshore School District vote for all candidates on the ballot. Northshore school board members do not receive compensation.
The county began mailing ballots for the Nov. 4 election last week. County officials recommend returning ballots in a drop box or by mail at least one week before Election Day.
District 1 covers the northern portion of Northshore, including parts of Bothell East and Clearview. Fernwood Elementary, Canyon Creek Elementary, Kokanee Elementary, Skyview Middle School and Innovation Lab High School are in the region’s boundary.
Carson Sanderson
Sanderson is a test proctor for the district and the president of the parents council for the district’s Highly Capable program, which supports students who perform at advanced academic levels. Sanderson has four children. Her oldest graduated from North Creek High School, and her other children are still in the district.
In the primary, Sanderson’s top issues were addressing overcrowding and finding creative ways to balance the budget.
She’d want to work with the Snohomish County Council to better plan for the expansion of the county’s urban growth area. In 2024, the county expanded the southwest urban growth area by about 379 acres within the Northshore School District boundary.
Sanderson supports bringing in community partners to help fund essential programs and lobbying at the state level for funding. She said she wants to make any changes “invisible to students.”
Since the primary, Sanderson said she has been thinking about additional ways to engage with parents about issues, including school renovations and school safety, particularly following the controversy after the principal of North Creek High School made a social media post about the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk.
“So working with the community to address issues so that no one has to feel unsafe going to school or being at school because of political discord that may not have as much to do with their day-to-day learning otherwise,” Sanderson said.
As of Friday, Sanderson had raised $9,374 in campaign contributions, state filings show.
Sanderson is endorsed by McGourty, State Sen. Derek Stanford and State Rep. Davina Duerr, among others. She also has endorsements from the Northshore Education Association, Northshore Office Professionals and the Washington Education Association political action committee, among other organizations.
Arun Sharma
In a statement to The Daily Herald, Sharma said he has suspended his campaign for the District 1 race. His name will still appear on the Nov. 4 ballot. In his statement, he said he is endorsing Sanderson for the position.
“With two progressive candidates in the race, I believe it is in the best interest of our NSD community that we join forces rather than compete against one another,” Sharma said. “By uniting behind Carson, we can ensure progressive priorities like equity, student well-being, and fiscal responsibility remain central to the district’s future.”
District 4 covers the central portion of Northshore, including some parts of southern Bothell and eastern Woodinville. Woodinville High School, Woodin Elementary School, Northshore Middle School and Woodmoor Elementary School are within the District 4 boundary.
Sandy Hayes
Hayes has served on the school board for 16 years. She’s also a lawyer and has a restorative justice practice.
Two current school board members, Jacqueline McGourty from District 1 and Amy Cast from District 5, are not running for reelection. The other two board members, Elisabeth Sotak and Hân Tran, are serving their first terms. Part of Hayes’ decision to run again, she said, was to keep some experience on the board for another term.
In June, the Trump administration announced it was withholding $1 billion from schools across the country. The money funded after-school programs, multilingual education and other programs. In July, the administration announced it was releasing the funding.
“All of that is creating a lot of anxiety for our staff and then as a result, our students,” Hayes said. “We need school board members that are going to be calm and not sow more chaos or division and just stay focused on making sure our students feel safe and respected and valued.”
Hayes would also continue lobbying for funding on the state level, she said.
Another priority for Hayes is helping students adapt to an increasingly tech-driven future, including the rise of artificial intelligence.
In her time on the school board, Hayes has been part of starting inclusionary practices, increasing graduation rates and test scores, and building more schools with bond funding, among other accomplishments.
Hayes filed as a mini-reporting campaign, so she is not required to report contributions or expenditures unless they exceed $7,000.
Hayes is endorsed by Snohomish County Democrats, 1st District Democrats, 45th District Democrats and the National Women’s Political Caucus, among other organizations. She also has endorsements from Bothell Mayor Mason Thompson, Bothell City Council member Jenne Alderks and Northshore school board member Jacqueline McGourty, among other elected officials.
JoAnn Tolentino
Tolentino is a retired music educator and software sales professional. She has grandchildren in the Northshore School District.
Tolentino’s priorities include increasing the district’s focus on academics, eliminating unnecessary spending and banning transgender girls from playing in girls’ sports.
The school board is currently discussing its proposals for three February ballot measures: an education programs and operations levy, general obligation bonds and a technology levy. Tolentino said levies are a “lazy way” of balancing the budget.
“I would be more willing to get down to the nitty-gritty of what is necessary,” she said. “We know there’s tons of waste everywhere.”
Toletino said she would support a policy to ban transgender girls from playing in girls’ sports, which she said is an important issue facing the district.
In April, U.S. President Donald Trump launched an investigation into the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction over state laws that allow transgender students to play in sports in alignment with their gender identity. State Superintendent Chris Reykdal issued guidance to school boards that they should still comply with state law. One state political group is gathering signatures for an initiative that would block transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports.
In July, community members found social media posts from Tolentino that indicated she was at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection in 2021. Tolentino confirmed she was in attendance that day in a statement to The Daily Herald. She said she was there as an observer and did not enter the Capitol building.
Tolentino filed as a mini-reporting campaign but has reported $1,070 in campaign contributions, state filings show.
Tolentino does not have any endorsements listed on her campaign website.
District 5 covers the eastern portion of the Northshore School District, including parts of Woodinville and Cottage Lake and a small section of Snohomish County near Crystal Lake. Wellington Elementary School, Leota Middle School, Timbercrest Middle School, East Ridge Elementary School, Cottage Lake Elementary School, Sunrise Elementary School and Hollywood Hill Elementary School are within the District 5 boundaries.
Kimberlee Kelly
Kelly directs and teaches at an outdoor preschool in Cottage Lake that specializes in serving neurodiverse children and their families. Before her current position, she spent more than 15 years teaching K-12. She moved to Cottage Lake in 2024 and has a 1-year-old child who will attend Northshore when he’s older, Kelly said.
Kelly’s priorities include finding creative ways to balance the budget, addressing overcrowding and preserving academic freedom.
Amid the federal funding uncertainty, Kelly said it’s important to maintain relationships with other school districts and pay attention to education funding at a larger scale. She supports advocating for levies and lobbying at the state level to help balance the budget.
To address overcrowding, Kelly supports redrawing the district’s boundaries to more equitably distribute students. She’d also have ongoing conversations about class sizes with the district’s unions.
Kelly supports trauma-informed instruction, particularly as a number of groups are “under fire” right now, she said, including immigrant families, special education communities and the LGBTQ+ community.
“Our students are feeling that, and they’re expected to go into school and perform as if none of those things are happening,” she said in a July interview. “Our schools are going to need to be places of sanctuary, where kids are getting people who are looking at them as whole beings and seeing the totality of their experience and supporting them.”
As of Friday, Kelly had raised $5,575 for her campaign, state filings show.
Kelly has endorsements from Snohomish County Democrats, Alliance for Gun Responsibility and the Washington Education Association political action committee, among other organizations. She also has endorsements from State Sen. Derek Stanford, Kenmore Mayor Nigel Herbig and Bothell City Council members Carston Curd and Jenne Alderks, among others.
Lynda Schram
Schram is a parliamentarian and has grandchildren in the Northshore School District. Her priorities include banning transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports, focusing on academics and finding ways to lower state public school spending.
In addition to banning transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports, Schram supports banning them from girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms.
“This issue to me is just really common sense for a lot of people,” she said. “Not everybody agrees on it, but that’s the issue I chose to reveal myself on.”
She said she’d want to foster “healthy learning spaces” and look into the effectiveness of social-emotional learning, which teaches students skills like emotional regulation.
“There’s a lot of emphasis on negative emotions for kids,” Schram said. “There’s very weak evidence for its effectiveness. That’s what needs to be looked at before we spend more and more money on these programs while we’re in a deficit of millions of dollars.”
She’d also want to take a closer look at curriculum materials. She’s against proposing additional levies and bonds to voters.
“I think the money should come from the state,” Schram said. “That’s how the law was written.”
Schram is an administrator for the King County Moms for Liberty Facebook group. Moms for Liberty is a national conservative nonprofit that has advocated for banning books and against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and COVID-19 safety measures in schools.
Schram filed as a mini-reporting campaign but has reported $200 in campaign contributions, state filings show.
Schram does not have any endorsements listed on her campaign website.
Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.
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